Means and techniques for indicating condition of shipped articles



Sept. 21, 1965 R. R- SALEMBIER MEANS AND TECHNIQUES FOR INDICATING CONDITION OF SHIPPED ARTICLES Filed Feb. 5, 1964 {B E] Hal.

United States Patent 3,207,122 MEANS AND TECHNIQUES FOR INDICATING CONDITION OF SHIPPED ARTICLES Robert R. Salembier, North Hollywood, Calif., assignor to Paul M. Smith, Van Nuys, Calif. Filed Feb. 5, 1964, Ser. No. 342,643 3 Claims. (CL 116- 114) The present invention relates to means and techniques useful in indicating the past history of packages, cartons, boxes and the like which have been handled as, for example, in storage or in shipments.

Briefly, the device illustrated herein involves a card attachable to a package on which are mounted means for permanently indicating whether the package has been placed on its side, upended or mishandled. Such means involves the use of colored granular material such as colored fine glass beads within a transparent plastic housing thermo-sealed to the card, such transparent housing being generally in the form of an hourglass configuration in which there is a lower chamber, an upper chamber and a restricted passageway intercommunicating the two chambers through which the granular material may flow when the package is placed on its side, upended or in general mishandled. The upper chamber is defined in part by an apertured portion of the card which is covered by an adhesive strip adhesivelybound to the back of the card, the adhesive material being of the nondrying type so that when the granular material contacts the same, it permanently adheres to the adhesive thereby producing by its presence on the adhesive material an indication that the package has not been maintained in an upright condition. Prior to use on a package, the device is provided with a removable nonadhesive strip which covers such apertured portion and which is removably retained in sandwiched condition between the back of the card and the adhesive strip so that in storage, shipment and handling of the card per se, it may be oriented in any direction without the granular material adhering to any adhesive. At the time the card is applied to a package, the adhesive strip is temporarily detached, the nonadhesive strip removed and the adhesive strip again applied to the back of the card to expose adhesive material thereon into the apertured portion of the card where it becomes operative to adhesively retain any of the granular material which might later contact the same.

It is, therefore, a general object of the present invention to provide a device which is simple, small, foolproof and inexpensive for attachment to a package for indicating whether the same, after application of the device to the package, has been maintained in an upright condition.

A specific object of the present invention is to provide a device constructed as indicated above.

Another specific object of the present invention is to provide a device of this character which is reliable so that liability for failure to maintain a package in an upright condition may be accurately established as to one person from amongst a plurality of different persons and handling the package in, for example, local cross-country freight, truck, rail and air shipments in addition to ocean freight.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. This invention itself, both as to its organization and manner of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may be best understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a front view of a device embodying the present invention.

3,207,122 Patented Sept. 21, 1965 FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view like FIG. 2, but with a temporary nonadhesive strip 15 removed from the assembly in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 44 of FIG. 3.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are perspective views of the back of the device illustrating the steps involved in gaining access to the nonadhesive strip 15 and replacement of the same adhesive strip 16 to convert the device from its nonoperating condition shown in FIG. 2 to its operating condition shown in FIG. 3.

The device is illustrated in the form of a white-faced rectangular polycoated cardboard sheet .018 caliper or card 10 having certain printings on its front face as, for example, the word UP and an arrow 11 each in red and also a black horizontal line 12 which extends through a portion of the arrow.

The card 10 is provided with a generally oval shaped apertured portion 14 which is normally covered at the back of sheet 10 by a temporary strip of paper 15, the paper 15 being normally sandwiched between the backside of card 10 and a larger strip of paper or tab 16 having an adhesive coating 17 on that side facing the backside of card 10. This adhesive coating is a nondrying adhesive and cooperates with the backside of card 10 to releasably maintain the paper strip 15 over the apertured portion 14, as shown in FIG. 2.

A preformed strip 20 of transparent plastic material, gene-rally rectangular in outline, is thermosealed to the front face of card 10, such strip 20 being preformed to provide an upper bulbous portion 22, a lower bulbous portion 23 and a channel portion 24 that intercommunicates these bulbous portions. Prior to securing the strip 20 to the card, granular material such as, for example, blue colored glass heads, is disposed in one of such bulbous portions so that when the strip 20 is secured to the card, such beads are retained in a structure resembling an hourglass construction wherein the card itself with its apertured portion 14 closed by paper strip 15 serves as a wall portion of an upper closed chamber 30, a lower closed chamber 31 and a smaller chamber or passageway 32 which intercommunicates chambers 30 and 31.

It will be seen that in the normal or non-use condition of the assembly in FIG. 2, the assembly may be tilted or inverted and then, when returned to the position shown in FIG. 2, all of the granular material will accumulate in the lower cavity 25 where it is clearly visible, this being so since the paper strip 15 facing the apertured portion has no adhesive to which the granular material may adhere.

In use of the device, prior to mounting in an upright position on a box, crate, carton, package or the like, the tab 16, as shown in FIG. 5, is first partially and manually peeled from the card 10 to gain access to the temporary blocking strip 15 which is then removed from the assembly and the strip or adhesive tab 16 reapplied by the same adhesive material 17 to the card 10. This procedure results in the card apertured portion 14 now being closed by a surface of tab 16 having .a nondrying adhesive thereon. Consequently, should the device now be tilted or inverted, or the box on which it is mounted be tilted or inverted, the granular material 25 contacts the adhesive 17 in apertured portion 14 and permanently clings or adheres to the same even though the device or the box on which it is mounted be restored to its upright position. This latter condition is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 wherein some of the granular material 25 adheres to the adhesive material 17 thereby producing a permanent indi- 3 cation that the device or box to which it is attached had been placed on its side, upended or mishandled.

The restricted passageway 32 is purposely made small so that there is no likelihood that ordinary safe handling of the box in its upright condition will result in any of the granular material being adhesively bound at apertured portion 14.

Also in some cases the inner surface of the upper transparent tubular chamber 30 may be internally coated with an adhesive in which case any of the blue granular material found clinging to such surface serves as an indication of incorrect handling, and the card itself may have printed thereon this information stating that any blue granular material found above heavy line 12 in the upright condition of the card is an indication of undesired handling of the crate, package, carton or the like to which the device is attached.

While the particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from this invention in its broader aspects and, therefore, the aim in the appended claims is to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. An indicating device of the character described, including a card having an apertured portion therethrough; an adhesive sheet on the backside of said card covering said apertured portion; a transparent material affixed to the front side of said card and having a bulbous portion overlying said apertured portion to define a chamber therewith, a second chamber on said card, a restricted channel intercommunicating the first mentioned chamber with said second chamber, and granular material in said second chamber.

2. An indicating device of the character described, means defining two chambers intercommunicated by a restricted channel, flowable material in one of said chambers and flowable through said channel to the other chamber, adhesive material in the other of said chambers to which said material is capable of adhering, said other chamber being of transparent material, said adhesive material being in the form of a strip with adhesive thereon and covering an apertured portion of said other chamber, a removable nonadhesive strip sandwiched between said apertured portion and the first mentioned strip, and said adhesive material being of the nondrying type allowing convenient removal of and re-use of said first mentioned strip after removal of said temporary nonadhesive strip.

3. An indicating device as set forth in claim 1 in which the first mentioned chamber, said second chamber and said restricted channel are each defined in part by a transparent plastic material secured to the front side of said card with said front side defining the other part of said chambers and said channel.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,674,221 4/54 Tinsley 116-124.29 2,892,541 6/59 Hahn 20678 3,055,680 9/62 Stoffel 28142 LOUIS J. CAPOZI, Primary Examiner. 

1. AN INDICATING DEVICE OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED, INCLUDING A CARD HAVING AN APERTURED PORTION THERETHROUGH; AN ADHESIVE SHEET ON THE BACKSIDE OF SAID CARD COVERING SAID APERTURED PORTION; A TRANSPARENT MATERIAL AFFICED TO THE FRONT SIDE OF SAID CARD AND HAVING A BULBOUS PORTION OVERLYING SAID APERTURED PORTION TO DEFINE A CHAMBER THEREWITH, A SECOND CHAMBER ON SAID CARD, A RESTRICTED CHANNEL INTERCONNECATING THE FIRST MENTIONED CHAMBER WITH SAID SECOND CHAMBER, AND GRANULAR MATERIAL IN SAID SECOND CHAMBER. 